Point your browser in the direction of Sony Netherlands' Xperia Z Ultra press release in Dutch and you'll spot a SIM-free price tag of €719 towards the bottom – that's on the wrong side of £600 once you've converted.

Look, there's no doubting you'll be buying a premium device. It's big, fast and clever, and more importantly for those people who are actually prepared to spend that kind of cash on a phone, it looks like it costs about that much.

Does that make it worth the money? If you buy it, I guess the answer must be yes. But for most people a contract deal will be the only option for getting their hands on Sony's 6.4in phablet titan, no matter how impressed they are.

A reminder of the key specs: a full HD screen, Snapdragon 800 CPU running at 2.2GHz, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP Sony Exmor RS camera, 4G LTE, waterproofing, stylus support and a 3,000mAh battery.

Plus, it's absolutely massive – just look at the size of the icons on screen in the image above.

If you are interested, you've got until some time in Q3 to save up, though considering Q3 starts on Monday that's not narrowing things down too much.